The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced on June 13 that 6 additional workers at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant may have exceeded the radiation exposure limit of 250 millisieverts. It was revealed by the quick testing done by TEPCO. All of them were male TEPCO employees. The maximum radiation was 497 millisieverts, counting both the external and the internal radiation exposures. They are currently undergoing more detailed testing. Earlier, two TEPCO employees at the plant had exceeded the limit, with the total radiation exposure of over 600 millisieverts.

According to the Ministry, one of them has worked in the central control rooms for the Reactors 3 and 4 since the March 11 earthquake/tsunami, and the other 5 have worked outside the control rooms maintaining the electrical and measurement equipments. 6 additional workers (4 TEPCO employees, 2 TEPCO affiliate company employees) may also have received between 200 to 250 millisieverts radiation. The Ministry has instructed TEPCO to remove these 12 workers from the work at the plant.

東電はこれまで緊急作業に従事してきた約３７００人の被ばく線量の検査を進め、１３日までに約２３００人分の結果を同省に報告した。【井上英介】

TEPCO has been testing the radiation exposure levels of 3,700 workers who have worked at the plant so far, and reported the result of about 2,300 workers by June 13.

Junichi Matsumoto of TEPCO said, "Initially, we did not conduct the radionuclide analysis in the air and we didn't fully understand the work condition, and that led to the internal radiation of the workers. We will investigate the situation further, including whether the workers wore masks."

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said, "It is highly regrettable. As soon as the definite numbers for the radiation exposures for the 6 workers become known, we will instruct TEPCO to report immediately and to investigate the cause thoroughly."

3 months after the accident, in the NISA's mind it is still a local accident caused by a private business.

Unfortunately you probably won't see any detailed information because the workers don't want to officially join the ranks of the Hibakusha. There is evidence that evacuees are facing discrimination because of contamination fears.

If you aren't familiar with the term Relative Biological Effectiveness or RBE you many want to read up on the subject. It is a radiation weighting factor used to derive a biological equivalent dose. Not all ionizing radiation types do the same damage per unit. Nuclear apologist tend to avoid detailed talk about internal exposure and RBE especially alpha inhalation hazards because it doesn't paint a pretty picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_biological_effectiveness

And then there is also the chemical toxicity of some unstable isotopes.

" Uranium-238 is both radioactive and very toxic. Its half-life of 4.5 billion years means that only a few atoms emit radiation at a time. A sample containing enough atoms to pose a radiation hazard contains enough atoms to pose a chemical hazard. As a result, EPA regulates uranium-238 as both a chemical and a radiation hazard."

"Radioactive isotopes of lead are both radioactive and toxic. In spite of the severe effects of lead on the brain and the nervous system, the radiation hazard is greater. However, the radioactive forms of lead are so uncommon that paint or other lead containing products do not contain enough radioactive lead to present a radiation hazard. (Fukushima will generate radioactive lead) As a result, EPA regulates lead as a chemical hazard."

Now of course there have been problems with radioactive lead in some consumer products you just need to know where to look.

http://www.osha.gov/dts/hib/hib_data/hib19970624.html

"Some of the recent publications have made some very strong statements about the significance of these levels of radiation such as: E.A. Martell, Nature, 249, 217 (1974): 'Thus, is seems that alpha radiation from [Polonium-210] in insoluble smoke particles may be the primary agent of bronchial cancer in smoking."

"Initially, we did not conduct the radionuclide analysis in the air and we didn't fully understand the work condition, and that led to the internal radiation of the workers. We will investigate the situation further, including whether the workers wore masks."

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

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